2. pc-audio
  3. 1290641957

Got the Touch, Now What?

I just purchased a Squeezebox Touch. This is my first attempt at anything other than cd. I want to get this running properly wthout too many mistakes. I know there's probably no one perfect way to do this, but clearly some ways are better than others.

I have J River and Itunes on my desktop. I thought I'd rip all my cd's to J River (apparently this plays 24/96 files and itunes doesn't?)and then stream wirelessly from my desktop to the squeezbox, through my dac and out through my stereo.
I have a Cambridge Audio 840c and I thought I would utilize the DAC from it. Does it sound like I'm headed in the right direction?

I currently have itunes and a few hundred discs loaded using apple lossless, however I've read that ideally I create FLAC files for use with the touch instead? I'd like to have the files be some type of lossless to preserve the sound. I'm not concerned about file size because hard drives are cheap these days. I've got about a thousand cd's to work with so I really want to get this mostly right the first time.

I'm guessing at most of this so I would really appreciate any suggestions. Sorry if my explanation above sounds convoluted please bare with me.
Thanks,
Mike
ndfan
ppridday
28 posts
 
I just bought a Touch as well and am planning on using it while travelling. I am thinking of converting my CD's to FLAC with EAC to a 2TB portable hard drive. I will then plug the portable hard drive into the Touch, then analog out to a Headroom Little (it's what I have now) into a set of Senn HD600's. Does this sound viable even though a newer outboard DAC/headphone amp would surely be better?

Long term I am planning on using the Touch digital out into a PS Audio PW DAC and then eventually adding the Bridge thereby negating the Touch. At that point it would go back to the travel bag.

Does all this make sense? **and I thought getting a turntable set up right was tough... :-) **
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
If you are thinking of connecting the HD directly to the Touch by USB, it is not a good idea. The Tiny SBS in the Touch will have a hard time organizing and accessing such a drive and the USB connection may not be able to power it (unless it has an external PS). You are better off with a PC running the host-based SBS.

Running it into a Headroom amp is OK if the Headroom amp has a volume control.

Kal
ppridday
28 posts
 
That does make sense. I have a laptop that could to host the SBS program. Again, this will be used during travelling as I am on the road (hotels) up to 7-8 months of the year. Tough to drag a PC along but I always have a laptop.
tpy
68 posts
 
Just got a Squeezebox Touch, and am liking it alot. It took awhile to get it to play 24 bit files through Itunes, but I finally got it to work by converting with XLD and then converting those files to AIFF in I tunes. Couldn't get max to work.

1. Is this a reasonable way to convert hi rez files to play through Itunes?

Problem is that I'm getting drop out of sound when streaming Hi Rez files through my wireless router. This happens primarily with files from HDtracks; so far not an issue with live concert FLAC24 downloads.

2. Any idea what the problem is with the drop-out on Hi Rez files? I also noticed this on 320kbs internet radio. Could it be a problem with my router? Would this happen if lots of stuff is running on my computer?

Thanks for any and all advice ....
eugene81
164 posts
 
Tpy, it might just be your wireless signal strength/available bandwidth. Try running wired and see if you have the same problem. Is your wireless router 802.11g or 802.11n? The best way to deliver wireless would be to get a wireless router that does 802.11n ON THE 5GHZ BAND (aka a "dual band" 802.11n router), and get a 5GHZ 802.11n wireless bridge that will pick up the signal deliver it to your SB through the wire. The 2GHZ band is very noisy so going to 5GHZ can greatly improve signal strength. HOWEVER, the range is not as long as 2GHZ, so YMMV depending on how far your router is from your SB.

If it's a long distance, you can get 2 more wireless bridges and connect them with a crossover cable at the point in between your router and SB. One bridge picks up the signal from your router and the other broadcasts it again (when set to access point mode), effectively acting as a signal booster.

You can pick up refurbished a WNHDE111 wireless bridge for a little over $40. For a router, I recommend the Linksys WRT-400n, about $60 refurb.
More to discover